Host Keith Shaw and his expert guests discuss the latest technology news and trends happening in the industry. Watch new episodes twice each week or listen to the podcast here.
Lucas Mearian, senior reporter at Computerworld, joins the show to discuss job hunting strategies, why companies continue to put obstacles in place on finding good candidates, and the impact of AI on the whole situation. While 2024 was not as difficult than 2023 in terms of the number of technology job layoffs, there are still mixed signals in the job market. Tech unemployment remains low, yet anecdotally we are discovering that itβs harder for many people to find a new job. What gives?
Some recent cyberattacks on industrial facilities, including one of the countryβs largest water suppliers, has turned the spotlight on whether utilities and other critical infrastructure are properly protected from attacks. What challenges do groups face, and how will artificial intelligence affect potential future attacks or defense? Ian Bramson, vice president of global industrial cybersecurity at Black & Veatch, joins the show to discuss these and other issues facing industrial organizations.
While experts may feel that an AI bubble burst is happening, someone forgot to tell companies that continue to spend money on the technology. A new report says business spending on generative AI has surged 500% this year, reaching $13.8 billion. Guest co-host Lindsey OβDonnell-Welch talks with Keith about this and other tech stories, including the latest financial firm data breach, and why itβs so much work to monitor streaming services spending.
With a second Trump presidency on the horizon, many are wondering whether this will save TikTok from a complete U.S. ban (with a Jan. 19 deadline approaching) or if it continues to move ahead. Guest co-host Jack Gold joins the show to discuss this and other tech news from recent weeks, including OpenAI getting into the agentic AI space, AMDβs layoffs and what this means for any Nvidia competition, and why people still use horrible passwords.
In our weekly roundup of technology news, we offer up the following gems: For the second time, NVIDIAβs market cap makes it the worldβs most valuable company, passing Apple. Does this mean a new golden age for the chipmaker, or are there some concerns on the horizon? Guest co-host Jack Gold joins the show to discuss this and other tech news, including whether people still want to work at tech companies, why OpenAIβs SearchGPT is a breath of fresh air, and why monkeys trying to write Shakespeare on typewriters are going to be out of a job.
Because more states and countries are filing lawsuits against TikTok, the tide appears to be turning against companies in the social media space to get them to do more about protecting children and teens from addiction and self-harm. Dr. Lisa Strohman, founder and CEO of the Digital Citizen Academy, talks about the latest movements in the TikTok lawsuits, but also provides some stark news about other areas of technology that parents need to stay aware of when it comes to people looking to harm kids (gaming platforms, AI and VR βdark sidesβ).
Apple Intelligence has been unleashed to iPhone users, but will its limited features appeal to customers who want to do more AI on their smartphones? RJ Bardsley joins as guest co-host to discuss this issue and other recent technology news, including some new possible reasons for return-to-office mandates, why the government doesnβt want companies paying ransomware, and whether more business events are including βforced funβ activities such as pickleball and lazy river innertube races.
New health-related trackers and devices are coming to consumers in droves (led by Apple and other Big Tech companies), which makes us wonder whether every waking (and sleeping) moment will be tracked for health data. Will the future be better (being able to become healthier through data monitoring) or worse (tracking data sold off to companies for advertising or stolen by hackers)? David Liu, CEO of Sonde Health, chats with Keith about the pros and cons of this new era of health data tracking, and how consumers and companies should brave these waters.
Amazon, Google and Microsoft are all investing millions of dollars into nuclear power, driven by a need for more power for both data centers and artificial intelligence processing. RJ Bardsley joins the show as guest co-host to discuss these stories and other tech news from recent weeks, including the good/bad news week for SpaceX and Tesla robots, and whether the logistics industry really cares about the porch pirate epidemic.
A bunch of lawsuits by state attorneys general spells more bad news for TikTok, whose use of algorithms that help children get addicted to the app is at the heart of many of these lawsuits. Guest co-host RJ Bardsley joins the show to discuss this story and others, including whether robotaxis will ever take off, the dangers and scariness of infrastructure hacking, and why we should all use an AI tool to help us apply for 30,000 jobs on LinkedIn.
A survey of large enterprises about their AI implementation shows that companies continue to be concerned about security (hallucinations, data leakage and privacy), a shortage of in-house expertise, and the lack of compliance and regulations in the space. So what should companies do? Adnan Masood, Ph.D., chief architect for AI & Machine Learning, UST, chats with Keith about how companies can overcome some of these hurdles, and what might be on the horizon with new LLMs and AI models.
Old-school AI assistants and chatbots are now evolving into fully fledged AI agents, which can perform more action-oriented tasks than just giving answers, thanks to perception tools, sensors and the use of large language models. Ritu Jyoti, GM and group vice president, AI and data, IDC, joins the show to discuss how AI agents represent the new phase of artificial intelligence for consumers and businesses moving forward.
We would argue that a majority of companies exploring the use of generative artificial intelligence are focusing on the accuracy side of the technology, but there are still some useful ways that the creative side can benefit end users and companies. In our latest audio podcast, we explore the current state of the art for creative AI endeavors with Mike Todasco, visiting fellow at the James Silberrad Brown Center for Artificial Intelligence at San Diego State University. Todasco is also an AI writer and advisor, and has conducted many different experiments using AI in the field of writing, image creation and song creation.
In our weekly technology news roundup podcast, we talk about a report suggesting that demand for AI devices, hardware and servers will cause a global semiconductor and chip shortage. Analyst Jack Gold joins the show to discuss this and the potential rumors around Qualcomm and Intel merging, as well as Metaβs new AR/VR and AI offerings, and whatβs going on with OpenAI and the potential for a Jony Ive-designed stand-alone generative AI device.
We've seen some very high-profile headlines around the use of generative AI by lawyers, courtrooms banning the technology and concerns about the accuracy of results. This is giving many in the legal space a chance to re-evaluate whether the technology is beneficial. Ken Crutchfield, vice president and general manager of Legal Markets, Wolters Kluwer, chats with Keith on this podcast about different ways lawyers are beginning to use generative AI tools, and whether we will see some innovative examples of the technology in the future.
In our weekly technology news roundup podcast, Keith and Chris discuss Amazonβs new return-to-the-office mandate for a full five-day workweek, how OpenAIβs new βreasoningβ model is still making stuff up, and how companies like Snap and Meta keep trying to push new AR glasses on a skeptical market. Analyst Jack Gold joins the show as guest co-host to discuss these and other news items.
The integration of generative AI with general-purpose and public-facing robots will enable companies to provide friendlier robots that assist humans with physical tasks, in addition to lessening any fears and other dystopian attitudes towards a robotic and AI future. In this podcast episode, Jerome Monceaux, founder and CEO of Enchanted Tools, talks with Keith about the future of physical robots, as well as whether AI avatars will also be more human-looking or character-driven.
Are we now seeing the next phase of artificial intelligence? OpenAIβs new βreasoning modelβ expands the technology that is trained to answer more complex questions in math, science and coding. Meanwhile, the death of James Earl Jones has raised the spotlight on whether the voice of Darth Vader will live on through AI technologies. Analyst Jack Gold joins the show this week as guest co-host to discuss these tech news stories and others.
Apple made a big splash with new iPhone models, watches and updated Airpods earlier this week, but the big question on everyoneβs minds was the AI features. What would they be like, when is it coming? Computerworldβs Ken Mingis and Macworldβs Michael Simon discuss the Apple βGlowtimeβ event with Keith and Chris on our latest episode.
In our latest tech news roundup episode, the gang discusses how generative AI technology continues to chug along despite feelings of disillusionment among end users. Brandon Mahne, guest co-host, joins Keith and Chris to discuss the $1 billion of investment in Safe Superintelligence (SSI), Anthropic expanding to the enterprise, and OpenAI considering raising subscription pricing for its new large language models. The three also discuss failures of the streaming service advertising platforms, right on the cusp of political ads invading these services, and whether gamers will be able to play top games on AI-based PCs.
With a more than 10x explosion in the number of available large language models (LLMs) for companies looking to deploy generative AI projects, you might assume that all of the models βare basically the same.β Vikram Chatterji, co-founder and CEO at Galileo, joins the show to discuss the major differences between LLMs and what parameters companies need to explore before choosing one for their project.
Both Apple and Microsoft are in talks with OpenAI to help the generative artificial intelligence company raise additional funds, which could make the company valued at over $100 billion. Will the extra cash mean that the company can improve its large language models to make genAI more useful? Brandon Mahne, guest co-host and CTO at Glasshouse, joins the show to discuss this and other technology news from the week, including whether we think sunlight βon demandβ is brilliant or foolhardy.
While the July event between CrowdStrike and Microsoft was a huge incident, a lot of IT teams are on notice, with leaders thinking, 'What's next?' Krishna Prasad, CIO and Chief Strategy Officer at UST, talks with Keith Shaw about what technology leaders need to do in order to prepare for future tech outages.
Several new details have emerged from the National Public Data breach that exposed millions of Social Security numbers to hackers, showing a potential lack of security knowledge by companies that need to protect data. Brandon Mahne, CTO at Glasshouse and owner of Mangrove Collective, joins the show as guest co-host to discuss this story, as well as other tech news. Chick-fil-a as a streaming provider? A future βspace gas stationβ? Our weekly tech news roundup has you covered.
With another potentially large data breach of 2.7 billion records that included Social Security numbers, as well as a first half of the year revealing major data breaches, is it time to adjust your security strategy? Brandon Mahne joins the show as guest co-host this week to talk about these issues and other technology news stories from the week, including Elon Muskβs new AI image generator that appears to have no guardrails, and why Waymo vehicles in San Francisco are all honking at each other.
A new survey indicates that companies are looking to train internal employees for key AI skills. Gustavo Alba, global managing partner of Technology & Service practice at Heidrick & Struggles, chats with Keith about ways that companies can help employees get better at learning critical generative AI skills.
What kind of impact will losing its antitrust lawsuit have on Google, and does anyone even care given all of the hype around generative AI? In addition, Microsoft strikes back against Delta over the CrowdStrike outage, and we are wondering if anyone is paying attention to the two American astronauts that remain on the International Space Station. Evan Kirstel, the Techfluencer, joins the show as guest co-host to discuss this and other technology news from previous weeks.
The recent CrowdStrike and Microsoft outages have raised several red flags at companies about their preparedness for when disaster strikes. Could adopting a Chief Risk Officer or Chief Resilience Officer helped with either predicting such vulnerabilities, or at least helped with recovery efforts? Spencer Kimball, CEO and co-founder at Cockroach Labs, chats with Keith about the benefits and challenges for companies around the idea of a Chief Risk Officer, and what companies need to be thinking about in a post-outage world.
Many signs, both on the business side and consumer side, indicate that the technology industryβs love affair is about to head down a slippery slope. In other words, the βBubble Pop Brigadeβ is ramping up, whether itβs companies abandoning AI projects or Big Tech firms dropping AI tools. Evan Kirstel, the Techfluencer, joins the show as guest co-host to discuss this and other technology news from previous weeks.
A new survey on potential cybersecurity threats across the landscape and how companies are responding to them suggests many challenges ahead and grim outlooks. Keith chats with Brandon Traffansted, field CTO at CyberArk, about what the survey results mean, and whether there is hope for optimism across the ransomware, machine identity, generative AI and threat landscapes.
Companies going through digital transformation efforts are discovering that they donβt have enough people on the traditional development side to meet ever-expanding and ever-demanding requests from the business side for fast application creation. Could creating βcitizen developersβ be the answer? Keith chats with Andie Dovgan, chief growth officer at Creatio, about the rise of citizen developers within companies, what misconceptions companies have about the trend, and how companies succeed and fail with these efforts.
A range of high-profile computer hacks have shut down car dealerships, furniture manufacturers, and even had an effect on Disney, showcasing that as temperatures rise, so do the security attacks. Tech Influencer Evan Kirstel joins the show this week as guest co-host to discuss those stories and others from the week, including whether Amazon Prime Day is still a big deal, and whether we want an AI Burt Reynolds to read us the news or an audio book.
As generative artificial intelligence continues to make strides and make mistakes, a growing number of experts and businesses are trying to figure out whether AI needs to be used by everyone within a company. Will this technology eventually fade into the background, or does it need to remain as βthe great disruptorβ? Keith chats with Ryan Cox, head of artificial intelligence at Synechron, about where AI heads over the next few years.
Market analyst firm IDC said the Apple Vision Pro has yet to sell 100,000 units, leading many to believe that the βspatial computingβ device is a flop. Meanwhile, Apple fans turn their attention to a potential robotics device with AI features. Computerworld columnist and journalist extraordinaire Mike Elgan joins the show to discuss this and other technology topics, including whether we will all become cyborgs eventually, and if we think Mark Zuckerberg is βking of the millennials.β
The U.S. attempting to ban TikTok goes beyond just stopping a social media app that shows funny dance videos or makeup tips. Experts in national intelligence say itβs about stopping a foreign state (China) from waging information warfare against the U.S. and protecting citizens from propaganda campaigns. Keith chats with Craig Albert, Ph.D., from Augusta University about the dangers of TikTok, as well as how foreign nations and other cyberhacker groups utilize social media to subtly (and not-so-subtly) influence the opinions of American citizens.
The Recording Industry Association of America and big music groups sue some artificial intelligence companies over the use of copyrighted materials in training data sets, the latest salvo in the ongoing battle between content holders and AI startups. Also, is Amazon late to the AI party with a potential ChatGPT competitor? Analyst Jack Gold joins the show as guest co-host this week to discuss the latest technology news with Keith.
Todayβs technology leaders and entrepreneurs are completely different from the tech giants that created and dominated Silicon Valley over the past 20 to 30 years. The next generation of technology leaders will need even different skills from todayβs bigwigs. Keith chats with Robert Eric Siegel, a lecturer in management at the Stanford Graduate School of Business and a venture partner at Piva, about how tech leadership is evolving.
The U.S. Surgeon General declares that social media is creating a mental health crisis for adolescents, and is looking to Congress to put warning labels on apps; AI continues to have its ups and downs β ChatGPT passes the Turing Test, but AI technology gets dumped at the McDonaldβs drive-through. Computerworld contributing columnist Mike Elgan joins the crew as guest co-host to discuss these and other technology news stories from the past few weeks.
For years, there existed a church and state separation between the world of video games and business training. Even concepts of βgamificationβ havenβt much moved the needle when it comes to figuring out new ways to train people beyond papers, lectures and presentations. But with better technology now available, businesses can create βgamesβ that will offer better training and education for workers. Keith Shaw chats with Sam Glassenberg, CEO of medical games company Level Ex, about what is causing this shift in the market.
Apple finally enters the artificial intelligence space with its βpersonal intelligenceβ tools β what does this mean for the market, competitors and, most importantly, users of Apple products? Will consumers who have been saying mostly βmehβ to AI now start using the tools? Computerworldβs Ken Mingis and Macworldβs Mike Simon join the show to discuss Appleβs AI announcements from WWDC 24, including what features they like best from the Apple Intelligence package.
Nvidia becomes a $3T company based on its latest AI chips (with Intel and AMD also in the game), leading the AI hype machine to go into overdrive. But at the same time, some are suggesting that the bubble is about to burst, and that AI investments may not pan out as users feel less enthusiastic. Computerworld contributing columnist and author Mike Elgan joins the show to discuss these and other technology news items from the past week.
While the technology job market remains vibrant and strong for many workers, people over the age of 50 are finding it more difficult to get a new job, or navigate past the layers of hiring with the institution of new AI screening tools. Keith talks with Christina Matz, Ph.D., an associate professor in the Boston College School of Social Work and director of the Center on Aging & Work, about why age discrimination still exists within much of the corporate world, including in the tech sector.
Between having an AI tool that recommends crazy suggestions like putting glue on pizza and a βleakβ around how its search engine works, Google is facing lots of criticism about its technology and operations. Analyst Jack Gold joins the show this week to talk with the crew about Googleβs issues, why general consumers are saying βmehβ to AI tools, and why the American worker is lonelier at work than ever before.
As computing has developed over the past four decades, we increasingly see products designed to be more βdisposableβ rather than upgradeable or made to last longer. However, there are still bright spots within the ecosystem that allow consumers to get more out of their devices or extend their life. Keith chats with Larry OβConnor, founder and CEO of Other World Computing, about these issues, as well as how improving speeds through cables and connectors enabled more external products such as storage (and why Keith needs to backup his data more often).
Big Tech companies trying to roll out new AI tools face some blowback in recent weeks, whether it was OpenAI using a Scarlett Johannson-like voice (without her permission or licensing) to tout new voice AI features; or Microsoft hyping a new feature that takes screen shots of your computer every few seconds; or Google proudly announcing that AI overviews and paid sponsors will bury search results even further. Chris Shaw from NTT Research joins the show as guest co-host with the crew to discuss these and other top technology stories from the week.
Four years after most workers began using video calls for meetings, workers are discovering that we are still not good with the technology. In addition, a new survey suggests that video calls cause anxiety and fatigue. Keith chats with Sylvia Johnson, head of methodology at Preply, about the survey and how we can ease the anxiety around video calls.
OpenAI launches a new AI model that lets users have voice conversations with ChatGPT, creating the world of βHerβ. With rumors of Apple creating a βbetter Siriβ at some point, are we getting to a world with better AI voice assistants? Guest co-host Chris Shaw joins the crew to discuss these topics and also news around autonomous vehicles making a comeback, why solar storms disrupted tractors in the Midwest, and whether people just donβt want to work anymore.
The onslaught of new artificial intelligence tools is causing burnout for many engineers, while another research paper suggests that AI will produce generic, bland content if humans donβt challenge the AI systems to be better. Also, Apple faces backlash for its βCrushβ ad promoting its new iPad, and TikTok heads to the courts to try and prevent its sale in the U.S. Chris Shaw from NTT Research joins the crew as guest co-host as they discuss these stories and other technology topics.
As businesses look to deploy artificial intelligence, many are concerned about making sure the systems are 100% accurate in their responses, and that βAI hallucinationsβ, where the system seems to make up answers, are eliminated. However, there are cases where AI hallucinations can be good for a business. Keith chats with Ryan Welsh, Field CTO for Generative AI at Qlik, about how companies can determine the right level of accuracy for their AI needs, and whether hallucinations are OK in certain situations.
Despite low unemployment numbers and reports of βplenty of jobs availableβ in the technology space, many job seekers are still struggling to find work. Encountering hurdles such as AI-driven applicant tracking systems, fake job listings, recruitment scams and ageism, many job seekers are becoming more frustrated. Keith chats with Chui Senanyake from The Job Helpers to see if there are other ways that job seekers can beat (or bypass) several of these hurdles.
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